Fox Orders Buddy Cop Show from J.J. Abrams

"Fringe" exec producer J.H. Wyman will write and executive produce the pilot set in a near future when all LAPD officers are partnered with highly evolved humanlike androids.

J.J. Abrams

Fox is back in business with J.J. Abrams.

The network has ordered to pilot Abrams’ untitled Bad Robot/J.H. Wyman drama project. The hourlong effort is being billed as an action-packed buddy-cop show set in a near future when all LAPD officers are partnered with highly evolved humanlike androids.

Fringe’s Wyman will write and exec produce, with Abrams and Bryan Burk on board as EPs. Kathy Lingg is attached as a co-executive producer on the pilot from Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television. The order comes one week after their cult darling Fringe ended its run on Fox and a day after news broke that Abrams will direct the next Star Wars film.

The untitled Wyman effort joins five other drama pilots in contention, including Karen Usher's Delirium; an adaptation of Rake; and Sleepy Hollow, from another Fringe duo, Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman. With a sixth addition to the network portfolio, Fox -- which has been criticized this season for its lack of a bench -- now has ordered more drama pilots than it did last year.